Virtusphere

Problem Statement

An energy company needs a program to train new hires how to get around in an enormous, complicated, and dangerous facility.

A university wants to train medical students about the circulatory system—from the inside out.

A fire department wants to assess the emergency preparedness of its first responders without turning several mid-town blocks into a simulated disaster zone.

Each of these scenarios requires training with a system that offers a little more “oomph” than a computer monitor and a headset. You need total immersion to fully understand the physical relationship of objects in the environment, whether it’s a manufacturing plant, a major emergency, or the chambers of the heart.

Approach

Using the Virtusphere, we are able to leverage learning theory and practices with an innovative learning technology that transforms the learner’s world into a virtual reality that brings learning to life. Our staff can design and author interactive simulations for Virtusphere, using the newest game engine software and recreated 3-D models of any environment you need to explore.

The immediately obvious feature of the device is a 10-foot, hollow ball of ABS plastic. The user enters the ball through a hatch with additional hardware that includes wireless head-mounted display goggles. In Virtusphere, users can safely traverse a real or imagined 3-D world in life-size or miniature, whether the goal is to experience a walk through the human nervous system, a battleground, a crime scene, an alien planet, or even a data set.

Solution

Here’s how it works: You step into the Virtusphere—a safe and secure ball rolling on a base of casters—and don a head-mounted display. Twin physical forces go to work as you walk in any direction and look up, down, and around. Sensors monitor the speed and direction of your steps as well as which direction you look. The image you see on the head-mounted display shows a changing view wherever you walk and look. A light plastic controller can also be carried for sending signals and targeting. Other people can view the scene on monitors outside the Virtusphere; the experience can be recorded for future use as a training and evaluation tool.

Our designers create learning solutions that take advantage of the sphere’s ability to add locomotion to the learning experience. This technology excels in training that involves mobility, real physical places, or simulated information. In 3-D virtual reality, you safely explore hazardous or complex environments or become immersed in full-body training experiences.

Only Virtusphere offers the following advantages in virtual reality:

Safety—Experience dangerous settings at no risk of injury.

Natural and realistic 3-D—See all aspects of a situation in depth.

Heightened reality—Other VR systems put the user at a computer monitor, one step removed from the environment. With Virtusphere, the user is fully immersed, engaged, and attentive.

Instant response—The image correlates to head turns and feet movements with no lag time.

Omnidirectional—Users move in all directions to navigate virtual environments with ease.